The Glória funicular runs steep uphill, into the Bairro Alto district. We planned on visiting the Al

We had two days at our disposal in central Lisbon and topped it with a full day excursion to Sintra. Neither should be enjoyed in less time, preferably more. On the other hand we left with a feeling of having seen much and visited marvellous places.
The first chapter revealed the plan I and the lady made before going, offering an overview of places of interest to us (mainly cultural sites and fine scenery). The planning document includes a number of websites and videos helping us prepare for the vacation. I would believe our plan would be of inspiration to others. It worked.
Plain olive appetizer. In Portugal they would normally place a whole range of appetizers on your table, like cold sardines, and fresh and matured cheese. You pay for what you eat. Day 1, Lisbon - Baixa and Alfama
We had booked a hotel at the outskirts of downtown Lisbon. The Hotel Lutecia has the appearance of a business hotel, with a professional staff, and an alright room and breakfast. The guests were tourists like us. It was situated only a few blocks from the Roma metro station, providing a 10 minute ride right into the historical old town of Lisbon. The taxi from the airport (3.5 km) cost us 8 euros.
We bought a 72-hour Lisboa Card (39 euros) at the airport offering us free transportation hotel california guitar tabs and access to a number of museums in Lisbon hotel california guitar tabs and also in other towns in central Portugal, places we would be visiting roughly within the 72-hour timeframe.
Arriving on Tuesday we had planned on rushing off to the bi-weekly famed Feira da Ladra market, known in English as the "Thieves' hotel california guitar tabs Market". Our experience is that markets just about anywhere are superb ways to get a sense of what life in a country is about. Arriving a bit too late in the day we realised we had to drop it. Instead we opened one of our guidebooks and found a walking tour, which we more or less tried to follow this first half day.
Our first stop was at the Praça do Dom Pedro IV , one of four major squares in downtown Lisbon, in the Baixa area. (The other three are the nearby squares of Figueira and Restauradores , and Comércio down by the river.) Exiting a metro station for the first time sets your senses on alert: Where are we, in what direction are we heading and so on. Well, we had a quick look at the Dom Pedro and walked over to the Figueira only a block away. Here we had a great view up to the Castle of São Jorge (St. George). The old Moorish castle, and its surrounding park, is the dominating feature almost everywhere you go in the old town of Lisbon.
We asked our way and after a walk through some fascinating side streets we found the Praça Restauradores , the actual starting point of the walking tour described in our guidebook. We had by now already noticed that this central part of Lisbon was filled with the ultimate sign of Portuguese hotel california guitar tabs architecture: The glazed tile walls. Azulejos might be considered the Portuguese contribution to the world's building decorations. There are certainly tiles in other countries as well but I have not seen anywhere the number of exterior walls completely covered with this kind of mosaic. On modest buildings, the pattern is repetitive in the sense that all tiles are alike. On others, and in particular in castles, monasteries and parks, the patterns hotel california guitar tabs depict different motifs.
hotel california guitar tabs Secondly, we did not fail to notice how the pedestrian streets and pavements are paved : There is a use of black and white coloured cobble stones that are quite unique to the Portuguese culture. The patterns have at times a close to psychedelic appearance. My first impression of them was in Belo Horizonte, Brazil . (A picture is included in the next chapter.)
The Restauradores is the largest hotel california guitar tabs of these large praças (squares). Here too the traffic around the square was quite noisy. It had the ubiquitous hotel california guitar tabs statue in the middle. At the one end the tree-lined wide Avenida da Liberdade starts it straight run slightly hotel california guitar tabs uphill. We did not fancy having a look at this shopping street so we looked hotel california guitar tabs slightly left and noticed a fascinating sight.
The Glória funicular runs steep uphill, into the Bairro Alto district. We planned on visiting the Alto in the evening, for this is where Lisbon's nightlife hotel california guitar tabs is centred. Despite this, we could not resist the temptation to enter the funicular, flashing our Lisboa Card (and "saving" 3.6 euro for the ride one way), and find a place to stand up front.
Lisbon is a port city, and was the base for the great Portuguese explorations of the seven seas in the 15th and early 16th centuries. The city is actually not situated on the sea, but on the very wide river Tejo ( Tagus in English). In any case, the old parts of the city were built on the banks of the Tejo and on the adjacent hillsides. The lower and higher parts are joined hotel california guitar tabs by a network of staircases, hairpin streets, and four elevators including the very special Santa Justa elevator and the Glória funicular.
It was a rather hotel california guitar tabs bumby ride uphill, but utterly fascinating. The equipment dates back a hundred years and more, and so do the old trams that squeak the streets in the city centre. We survived the ride and ended up on a wonderful viewpoint called the Miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara . It is a shaded park with trees, a fountain, street performers and vendors, tourists – and a fabulous view of the city down below.
Standing on the edge of the High town ( Bairro Alto ) we faced the São Jorge Hill across the Baixa district with its straight lined streets. hotel california guitar tabs A nice, cooling breeze made the hot day rather hotel california guitar tabs pleasant and the photo ops were a-plenty.
We took the funicular back down and found available seats this time. It doesn't take more than about five minutes anyway. Having become reasonably familiar with the praças we easily found our way down to the Figeiroa and the street called Rua de Augusta . This pedestrian street, being one of the straight ones of the Baixa , leads directly down to the Praça do Comércio , the largest square in Portugal. In one of the side streets we caught a glimpse of the Elevador de Santa Justa – a remarkable sight. We would be returning the next evening.
We entered hotel california guitar tabs the Comércio square through a large triumphal arch and found a huge square. The buildings lining it were pompous, kind of Portuguese I suppose, and quite a number of people had gathered at the riverside. For no particular reason, it seemed.
There was no need to hesitate so we backed into the streets and found our way into the Alfama district hotel california guitar tabs tucked in between the river and the São Jorge hill. The walking tour in our guide book had a quite detailed description of which streets to discover on the way up to the São Jorge Hill, and on the way down. Our maps were either not good enough, or we failed to read them properly. In any case we decided to skip the São Jorge (apparently in contrast to most tourists who were either heading up, or coming down from the castle).
We did not skip the Alfama district however. Most tourists seem to be taking the tram no 28 partly uphill and then walk the last bit to the castle. We took the tram for a roundtrip after having visited the Madalena church, hotel california guitar tabs then the cathedral of Lisbon (called Sé ) and finally the wonderful miradouro in the Jardim Júlio de Castilho next to the white church of Santa Luzia . From here we proceeded down into the Alfama streets where only locals go. We met very few tourists here.
For a first time visitor the architecture in Lisbon's centre looks very much the same. It has the feel of a 19th century European capital. As a matter hotel california guitar tabs of fact it is true. Lisbon was destroyed in a 1755 earthquake and had to be almost hotel california guitar tabs completely rebuilt. The only part of the capital that survived was Alfama . We were unable to pinpoint the exact buildings dating from that time. Most are probably more recent, but they are all on the cheaper side in terms of value. Alfama has a rather scruffy appearance, with poor, cheap real estate, therefore photogenic to us.
To be honest, that goes for the rest of Lisbon's historic hotel california guitar tabs centre as well. Portugal has since its days of glory five hundred years ago been one of the poorest countries in Western Europe, and it still is despite massive EU funding over the last 25 years. (As we would notice on our road trip to the north of the country, Portugal seems to have stopped completely in its tracks. There is seemingly nothing going on road wise, hardly any private cars and no trucks.)
Our first day in Lisbon hotel california guitar tabs was coming to a close but we did feel like listening to some fado music . In the evening we found a restaurant in the Alfama hotel california guitar tabs neighbourhood and were treated with the Portuguese most famous dish, the bacalhau . The dried and salted cod, usually hotel california guitar tabs imported from our country, Norway, comes with potatoes and onions. At least. There are many varieties. It was very tasty, as it would be on numerous occasions in Portugal. I might add that Portuguese menus are unlike most other menus world-wide; at least half the dishes are fish. (We had grilled sardines for lunch, another typical dish.)
This evening we were entertained by two guitar players and three vocalists. The mournful way of singing was fascinating, and we found it equally fascinating that the three singers had so different intonation. hotel california guitar tabs Fado is a highly emotional, personal feeling. Day 2, Lisbon - The riverside and Bairro Alto
Yesterday was very intense, and so was actually hotel california guitar tabs day two. I will however try to limit my writing a bit. Yesterday was spent in the predominantly 19th century parts of old Lisbon, in the neighbourhoods of Baixa and Alfama. This day we went back another few hundred years to the sights along the Tagus/Tejo river. A ride with the metro and two local buses brought us to the Torre de Belém .
This 30m high fortification is placed on what is now the river bank but was built in the early 16th century hotel california guitar tabs on a small island. It used to be equipped with cannons protecting the city but its historical importance goes beyond that. The tower was built in the Manueline style so typical of Portuguese architecture from that